News

The project ‘Conserving wild plants and habitats for people in the South and East Mediterranean’, which was launched in October 2014, is moving ahead. The Scientific Institute of Mohamed V University in Rabat (Morocco) has recently hosted the first workshop for experts who are going to document the conservation status and distribution of selected rare and threatened plant species in Important Plant Areas (IPAs), especially in those countries where information is insufficient (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine). …

While more research is needed to assess the population and trans-boundary movements of dolphins along the Thai-Cambodian border, local fishing communities should be closely involved in the monitoring and protection of Irrawaddy dolphins and other cetacean species. Promoting sustainable fisheries, along with strengthening local monitoring networks, are among the key activities that will help protect these species, which are important indicators of the health of coastal ecosystems. …

The number of gorillas and chimpanzees in Central Africa continues to decline due to hunting, habitat loss, and disease, combined with a widespread lack of law enforcement and corruption in the judicial process, according to a new conservation plan by IUCN, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), WWF, and partners. …

As another breeding season for Timneh parrots gets underway in the Bijagós islands, hopes are high that the nest monitoring team can build on the successes of the previous year. In late 2014 the return of a poached chick to its nest, and its re-adoption by its parents, provides a heart-warming conservation story and a tangible sign that the strategy of employing former parrot trappers is paying conservation dividends.
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Heads of state, ministers and high-level representatives of over 30 countries and Regional Economic Integration Organisations have adopted the Kasane Statement to reaffirm their commitment to ending the illegal wildlife trade. The statement was adopted at the Kasane Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade, held on 25 March in Botswana and organised by the Government of Botswana with the support of the UK government. …

Tedros Medhin, project coordinator with Stichting Chimbo, an SOS Grantee and IUCN Member, reports from Boé, Guinea-Bissau, about how Village Vigilance Committees (CVVs) are helping to protect the local population of Endangered West African Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ssp. verus). …

“I woke up this mornin' and all my shrimps was dead and gone”, so sang the legendary blues artist Robert Johnson back in 1937. A lyric which sadly resonates today according to a study led by the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). …

The first-ever assessment of all European wild bee species shows that 9.2% are threatened with extinction, while 5.2% are considered likely to be threatened in the near future. A total of 56.7% of the species are classified as Data Deficient, as lack of experts, data and funding has made it impossible to evaluate their extinction risk. … | Dutch

Mpanga Falls in Western Uganda is known as one of the world’s largest areas where the endemic cycad species Encephalartos whitelockii occurs. This cycad species is classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™. The remaining population is estimated at about 8,000 individual plants. …